How is Web 2.0 influencing and delivering e-recruitment and talent retention in Australia?

Social networking will soon become an essential part of the recruitment arena, according to Mike Giuffrida.

How is Web 2.0 influencing and delivering e-recruitment and talent retention in Australia?

To answer this question we need to define what Web 2.0 means. Web 2.0 is an interesting term, and particularly hard to define.

In Australia, the internet gained momentum in 1995 and 1996, firstly with Web 1.0 and now with Web 2.0. These references relate to the accessibility of the internet. For example, in the early days internet access was slow and difficult and mainly via dial-up devices. I call this Web 1.0.

Today the internet is ‘always on' and speeds have increased by five to 10 times which enables people to deliver more functions and features – and to deliver them faster.  I call this Web 2.0.

Essentially, I see the internet as a platform for delivery.

By Mike Giuffrida

How is Web 2.0 influencing and delivering e-recruitment and talent retention in Australia?

To answer this question we need to define what Web 2.0 means. Web 2.0 is an interesting term, and particularly hard to define.

In Australia, the internet gained momentum in 1995 and 1996, firstly with Web 1.0 and now with Web 2.0. These references relate to the accessibility of the internet. For example, in the early days internet access was slow and difficult and mainly via dial-up devices. I call this Web 1.0.

Today the internet is ‘always on' and speeds have increased by five to 10 times which enables people to deliver more functions and features – and to deliver them faster.  I call this Web 2.0.

Essentially, I see the internet as a platform for delivery.

For the user this means that user-generated content, social networking, wikis and blogs become broader, more accessible and more functional. Early communities were simple chat rooms – today communities allow you to upload photos, videos and other multi-media bringing a new dimension to how communities interact.

For businesses the internet is a platform to deliver business solutions and applications in a more efficient, innovative and cost effective way. We are seeing improvements in the software we use to deliver our solutions that vastly improves the interface of the product, how customers engage with the product, and the value they glean from that experience.

What does all this mean for the world of recruitment and talent management?

Web 2.0 enables us to deliver advanced features that give companies the ability to search and interrogate their talent pools to meet their recruitment needs.

Customers can use advanced Business Intelligence tools to analyse what recruitment and retention strategies are – and aren't – working and use tools that allow them to engage more effectively with potential job seekers.

We are developing tools that allow customers to build social networks of potential and former employees – they can stay in contact with a view to future employment opportunities.

Blogging tools also enable customers to engage with job seekers to provide an insight into the culture of their organisation.

On the job seeker side, the recruitment business in Australia is still predominantly married to the job boards as a source of candidates. But this will change.

Overseas, referral networking sites are gaining momentum. If people refer someone they know to a vacant position – and that person is successful in getting that job – the referee receives a reward. Incentives are combining with social networking in the recruitment world.

So where is e-recruitment and talent management heading in the future?

Employers will be more transparent and authentic about who they are as an organisation and how they communicate with potential job seekers. Job seekers are well armed with information about an organisation and this has to be reflected in how employers present to job seekers on their websites.

Social networking will become an essential part of the recruitment arena. The internet will be used more as a networking tool in recruitment – as it should be.

Web 3.0 will arrive and will vastly improve the accessibility of the internet again. This will further extend the power of mobile (hand held) devices as they move towards becoming mobile laptops with full wireless multi-media capabilities.

The internet will continue to evolve. We will see Web 3.0, Web 4.0 and more as we make progress in technologies that allow us to improve our access to the web and deliver more content faster.  With these developments come more opportunities.

Mike Giuffrida, CEO of NGA.NET

Mike Giuffrida pioneered web-based recruitment management technology in Australia with the co-founding of e-recruitment and talent management solutions company, NGA.NET in 1997. Mike holds a degree in Engineering from Swinburne University and has over five years Engineering experience with companies such as Transfield, Worley Parsons and Fluor Daniel. NGA.NET clients include Australia Post, Ford Australia, Allens Arthur Robinson, David Jones, Australian Federal Police and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Under Mike's leadership, NGA.NET has captured one-third of the Australian corporate e-recruitment market, over 60 per cent of the Australian Non-Corporate market and over 95 per cent of the Australian Federal Government market.

0 Comments

1. 

   Matthew Tukaki

   August 29, 2008 at 12:45 am

   i agree with the commentary

   i agree with the commentary that social and professional networking will play an important role in the future of recruitment. From the recruitment company side of things i can see some of them using sites such as linkedin while i have even seen ad's for roles in the digital marketing sector on facebook. That said, i see the initiative being largely taken by individual recruitment consultants as opposed to recruitment companies. At the employer level you have a range of companies banning social and professional networking sites because they beleive it lowers productivity. I attended an IT Security Briefing on Wednesday night where the IT Security people had nothing but disdain for generation y and that they somehow had to come around to the IT security way of thinking. One of them being brash to add "let's see how they conform when the economy sinks". The whole notion was pathetic. So, if corporate thinking on the benefits of social and professional networking is being influenced by the IT team – then employers will be at a severe disadvantage.  

   Matthew Tukaki, Director of Government Policy & Strategy, SansGov (Sanseman Government); PO BOX 3295 Redfern Sydney NSW 2016 Australia; Mobile +61 (0) 449 703 118;  matthew.tukaki@sansgov.com

   http://www.sansgov.com

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